Davis named to Walter Camp Award watch list

BY ANDRES FOCIL

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas junior running back Knile Davis is among 40 players named to the watch list for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, which goes to the nation’s best college football player.

Davis is one of just six players from the Southeastern Conference to be named to the watch list for the award, which was released on Monday morning.

A native of Missouri City, Texas, Davis was named first-team All-SEC by the AP and second-team All-SEC by the conference’s coaches in 2010 after becoming just the 10th player in Arkansas history to post a 1,000-yard season on the ground. Davis rushed for 1,322 yards, the most by a running back in the SEC and the fourth-highest single-season total in program history. His 6.48 yards per rushing attempt was the highest average in the NCAA among running backs that carried the ball at least 200 times and ranked as the fifth-highest single-season average at Arkansas. His average of 101.7 rushing yards per game ranked second in the SEC and 16th in the NCAA. He also ranked sixth in the SEC with 13 rushing touchdowns, tied for the 10th-highest single-season total in Arkansas history, and tied for sixth in the SEC for points by a non-kicker with 84. His six 100-yard rushing games tied for the fourth-highest single-season total in school history.

The watch list will be trimmed to 10 semifinalists in mid-November. The 2011 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 120 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced live on ESPN Sportscenter on Thursday, December 8. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Walter Camp Foundation’s annual national awards banquet on January 14, 2012 at the Yale University Commons in New Haven, Conn.

Walter Camp, "The Father of American Football," first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.